


Mission Two: Queen Mary

by aceofneverland



Series: Torchwood Five: America [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Supernatural, Torchwood
Genre: Children of Earth Fix-It, Doctor Who Spoilers, Gwen Bashing, M/M, Parallel Universes, Season/Series 11 Spoilers, Season/Series 14 Spoilers, Supernatural Spoilers, Third Person POV, Torchwood spoilers, children of the earth spoilers, ianto jones pov, it's jack what did you guys expect, jack flirting with everyone, just a little, just expect that from me okay?, lgbt friendships, shhh spoilers, the doctor is genderfluid okay, you know who's stuck in a parallel universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-17 23:40:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17570147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceofneverland/pseuds/aceofneverland
Summary: As work slows, Jack brings in a case that's been building for a while.  The Queen Mary.  Supposedly haunted and sitting on top of a Crack.  Three girls dead in the last six weeks.  But when Torchwood shows up, they find they aren't the only ones investigating.  Once again, Team FreeWill and Team Torchwood find themselves working on the same case.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY SLIGHT SPOILERS BUT I NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND BECAUSE PRONOUNS GET CONFUSING - because gender does not matter with the Doctor, whenever I refer to them as a whole and not to a specific regeneration I use they/them. When it's a specific regeneration, I use that regeneration's pronouns.  
> Second, Ianto is salty okay? It fits his character and everything he knows about the Doctor

 December 13, 1978

“Right Fam – The Queen Mary 1979.  Beautiful ship.  Crossed the seas from 1936 to 1967.  I was there on her first trip, otherwise I’d take you there.  Opened up for tourists in 1971 and known for being haunted.”

 

“You took us to a haunted ship Doc?”

 

“Comeon Graham, you don’t believe in ghosts do you?  After everything we’ve seen – every time it might be ghosts -”

 

“-Or demons.”

 

“Or demons, it’s been alien.”

 

“Well it’s not impossible, is it Doc?”

 

“I mean, I’ve never met a ghost.  Not a proper ghost that is.  Now come on, let’s go … Jack?”

 

December 13, 2018

 

“Update! Where are we at?”

 

Ianto moved around Jack, handing off coffee to Martha and Mickey before leaning against Jack’s desk.  His own desk finally had a computer sitting on it, the information Sam Winchester kept sending over up and ready to be catalogued and recorded.  He and Sam had been exchanging information for the past almost week, Sam giving him contacts and information about any Supernatural creatures they might encounter as well as promising to look through their library for anything about Princes of Heaven, while Ianto sent basic (unclassified) information about Aliens or Alien tech they might possibly encounter (and some where he told Sam just to call Torchwood if they saw it – Daleks, Cybermen, the big ones). 

 

“The Winchesters have all of their contacts looking for sightings of Michael, or the army of Supernatural they suspect he’s collecting,” Ianto said. “So far nothing, but Sam said he’ll let us know as soon as they see anything.”

 

“The system Ianto and I got up to try to pinpoint sightings of Michael are saying the same thing,” Mickey said.  “No Weevil sightings since the one in New York two days ago.”

 

“I still don’t understand.  Weevils came through the Rift in Cardiff, fell through time and space.  What are they doing here?  We haven’t found a Rift like the one in Cardiff.  Not the ones through time,” Ianto said.

 

“Maybe they didn’t come through time,” Martha said. “I mean no one can trace where they came from.   Maybe they came through space but not time, and are popping up through the small cracks we’ve been picking up.”

 

“We’ll keep tracking it.  Maybe we can find where they’re from and send them home,” Jack said.  “Any sightings, any police reports?”

 

“Not in the last twenty-four hours,” Ianto said.

 

Jack moved toward his computer, and pulled up a file which appeared on all of their screens.

 

“The Queen Mary.  One of the most haunted places in America,” Jack said.

 

“Tourist trap.  I highly doubt it’s haunted,” Martha said.

 

“There have been three girls found dead of unusual causes in the past six weeks.”

 

“You think there’s ghosts?” Mickey asked.

 

“I think there’s something.”

 

“Wait – that’s on one of the spikes, one of the cracks we’ve detected,” Ianto said, earning a quick smile from Jack.  “So it might be a Torchwood thing.”

 

“Might be.  Either way, we’re going.  I called them last night.  Guests are clearing out today and for the next two days they’ve promised that besides support staff, it’s ours to investigate.”

 

“That’s explains why you told us to bring a spare change of clothes just in case.  And the police?  I thought you were still working out kinks with the government,” Martha said.

 

Jack smirked, slipping into his coat that Ianto held out for him. “I am.  Let’s go.  We’ll head to our outpost in Santa Monica.”

 

The Teleporters were still jolting, though Ianto no longer bent over himself when he came out on the other end which he counted as a success.   Once the four of them were across, the SUV was loaded up and they were off towards Long Beach.  Ianto thought driving through the United States was bad, but seeing the traffic of California Ianto decided that he _hated_ driving in the United States.  Sure, traffic could get bad in Wales, in England, but this was pandemonium.  They made it to their destination safely, though Ianto was still wondering how. 

 

The Queen Mary loomed over them, and the nearly empty parking lot gave Ianto an eerie feeling.  Even just stepping out of the van, he knew something was off.  It just didn’t feel right.  He didn’t say anything though, not until he could pinpoint it, so instead he just helped with the cases in the back and the team moved towards the gangplank where a woman was waiting for them.

 

“You must be Torchwood.  Special Investigative Team, right?”

 

“What gave us away?” Jack said, flashing one of his charming, bright white teeth smiles.

 

“The engraving on your car.  I’m Caroline Anderson, manager on shift.  I know I said that the ship would be yours to investigate, and it is.  All the scenes are still in tact except for the bodies.  Local police left pictures and documents as well as their contact.  However, FBI showed up about fifteen minutes before you did.  I can’t really turn away the FBI, can I?”

 

Ianto caught Jack’s eye, and he wondered if anyone would take a bet that this wasn’t the real FBI.  Three murders in six weeks didn’t catch the FBI’s attention – still too small.  Jack assured her that it was fine, and she led them toward the main lobby.  As soon as they stepped on board, the feeling got stronger.  Something wasn’t right.  It was like everything was just – off.  Ianto paused for a minute, trying to adjust, to almost recalibrate if that were possible.

 

“Ianto, you alright?” Jack asked, his hand on Ianto’s elbow.

 

“Fine, sir.   Just – an odd feeling,” Ianto said, and Jack nodded.

 

“I feel it too,” Martha added in a whisper, glancing toward the manager as though to not be overheard.  “Just feels like something’s off.  Not a lot.  Just like, an odd tug.  Kinda like when you’re with the Doctor and you know that something’s going to go wrong.”

 

Jack nodded in agreement but urged them to keep moving forward, and Ianto was reminded that he was the only one of them that hadn’t properly met the Doctor – not in person at least – and was the only one who hadn’t travelled with him (though Ianto highly doubted he would want to travel with the Doctor.  He only would if Jack wanted to). The four of them stepped into the main lobby, and Ianto really wasn’t surprised to see three men leaning over what looked like police files. 

 

Jack cleared his throat and the three shot up, tensing at first but then relaxing when they saw it was only Torchwood approaching them (though Ianto had to admit Dean looked just a little annoyed, probably because he saw them as encroaching on their case).

 

“Jack Harkness,” Dean said, arching an eyebrow up.

 

“That’s Captain Jack Harkness to you.  Good to see you again …” Jack glanced at the Manager, who was still milling about for a moment. “Agent.”

 

“Oh you know each other!” Caroline said, a hint of relief in her voice as she was probably worried about having two agencies fighting over the case.

 

“We often see each other when it’s unclear where the jurisdiction lies,” Ianto said, and that was enough for her to make her way over to her post, out of ear shot.

 

“Sam, Dean, Castiel, meet the rest of Torchwood.  This is Doctor Martha Jones, medical advisor and mortician, and her husband Mickey Smith, weapons and tech.”

 

Dean and Sam nodded politely, introducing themselves before Dean turned to Jack.  “Decided that Torchwood deals in Supernatural events now?”

 

“When we run into it, yes, but that’s not why we’re here.  There’s a Crack situated right over the Queen Mary that might be the cause of this.”

 

“A Crack?” Sam asked.

 

“That file I sent you about the Cardiff Rift,” Ianto said. “It’s similar.  We first picked up signs of a similar Rift in North Cove, Washington, except it doesn’t span through time, only space.  There’s small fractures popping up all over the United States, and it’s Torchwood’s job to monitor them and ensure they aren’t going to fracture our universe.”

 

The three men shared a look and Ianto noted it for later.  The location of the first crack meant something to them, but Ianto suspected they were still building rust with the Winchester and he had to approach it carefully.  So he’d bring it up later, maybe to Sam who seemed to trust them the most, or if they got Dean out drinking again when he was a little less guarded about everything. 

 

“Are these the bodies?” Martha asked, moving over to the files and flipping through them.  “Jack, I’m going to need to see them in person.  Take readings, see if there’s any residual Rift energy, anything that seems like advanced tech.”

 

“I was going to go look at the bodies myself, look for anything Supernatural,” Sam said. “We could head over together.”

 

Martha looked at Jack and waited for his nod of confirmation before grabbing her medical case and heading towards the entrance.  She stopped and turned, sending a harsh look at her teammates.  “Call me if _anything_ happens.  Not like that time in Illinois.”

 

“It was just a scratch,” Mickey muttered.

 

“Caused by an unknown alien object that could have had who knows what side affects to the human body!  And as the Medic as well as your wife, you are to tell me.  Even if it’s Jack dripping dead and coming back, you call me.  I’m not having anyone die because you were all too stubborn to tell me.”

 

“Alright, alright, we’ll call.”

 

Martha smiled and turned back to the front as Caroline was walking back to them.

 

“You’ve another FBI agent,” she said. “Is it normal to have this many agents on a case?”

 

Ianto could see the boys tense a little from the corner of his eye until Caroline stepped aside, revealing a red head woman who was smiling nervously. 

 

“Charlie! I thought you were – taking some time off,” Sam said, pulling the woman into a bearhug.

 

“I was, and I was in the area, you know enjoying the beaches, seeing the sites.  I’d never been to LA properly.  And then I heard about the deaths and – I had to help if I could.  You’re right.  Helping people, it’s good.”

 

Dean made his way over and pulled the woman into a hug as well, as Caroline once again went off to do whatever it was she did when she wasn’t babysitting them.

 

“I don’t know if I’ll keep hunting for good, but I can’t walk away when I see it,” Charlie said once she’d gotten herself out of the arms of the boys.

 

Sam nodded, and then motioned to Torchwood, who had been watching the whole thing with interest.  “Charlie, this is another team that deals with …”

 

“No way.  Not possible,” Charlie said, quite literally lighting up when her eyes landing on the team.  “Torchwood.  Wait – but that’s not possible.  You’re just a TV show.  But you’re here.  Captain Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, and Doctor Martha Jones and Mickey Smith?  Well I supposed that makes sense after – well everything with Captain John Hart, but I’m surprised Gwen Cooper isn’t here, but actually that’s probably for the best.  I never -”

 

“How do you know who we are?” Ianto asked, cutting in.

 

“You’re a TV show.  Well were before the Apocalypse and everything went to hell.  Well, spin off TV show from _Doctor Who_.  Wait – is that not?” Charlie looked at Sam and Dean, who looked just as confused as the Torchwood team.  Then something clicked in Sam.

 

“Charlie’s from a parallel universe,” Sam said.  “That Crack in North Cove – there was a passage from our world to Charlie’s for a while before we closed it.”

 

Ianto could see Jack shift, ever so slightly, at the mention of parallel worlds and it wasn’t hard to put it together.  Ianto had never properly met Rose Tyler, but he knew enough that the idea that parallel worlds might be coming together was enough to get Jack to perk up a little.

 

“So in your world, we don’t exist.  We’re all just a story,” Jack said.  Then he broke out into one of his flirting smiles.  “So tell me, Miss Bradbury, do I look even better in person?”

 

“Jack,” Ianto warned, though there was no bite to it.  Jack would be Jack, and Ianto had no qualms against that.

 

“Oh it’s alright.  Won’t work on me anything.  I’m more – well gay,” Charlie said.

 

Jack just laughed.  “I like this one.”

 

“Well we should get to the bodies so we can be back before night fall,” Martha said.  Sam nodded in agreement and the two of them headed out.

 

“So why is Torchwood here?  Are you guys doing Aliens and Supernatural – wait.  That means aliens exist.  The Doctor exists!  Is Rose as dreamy in real life?  I mean, obviously her and the Doctor are meant to be together, but I can’t help it if she’s -”

 

“Very attractive,” Jack said with another laugh.  “So what do you do?”

 

“Well I was kind of a computer genius in my universe until Michael and Lucifer decided to battle it out and destroy all of humanity’s progress during said battle,” Charlie said. Ianto caught Mickey’s eye, and he knew they were both thinking the same thing.  While they could get by between their combined knowledge, Torchwood really needed someone to help on the computer end of the tech. 

 

“She came over with some others from their universe, to be safe until we could eliminate the risks,” Dean said.  “A lot of them started hunting.  They were fighting a war in their world, and if they didn’t want a regular life here, we helped get them settled into the hunting life.”

 

“So what is it here?  I mean, the Queen Mary has always been thought to be haunted,” Charlie said.

 

“It could be ghosts, or it could be the Crack in time and space we’ve detected,” Ianto said before turning to Jack.  “We should put up our monitors.  It’ll make it easier to figure out if we’re dealing with temporal displacement or supernatural activity?”

 

“Monitors?” Sam asked.

 

“They’ll detect any shifts in time or space, feed us readings back.  If things happen during those shifts, we’ll know it’s our thing.  If not, it’s probably from your guys’ thing,” Mickey said, rummaging through one of their cases to find the bag of monitors they brought.  Charlie bounded over to him, starting to blabbering in tech speak while looking over the small devices with awe.

 

Ianto turned towards the Winchesters, who still seemed a little tense with it all.  “Look, we don’t know what we’re dealing with here.  We can just work together, maybe even be out of here by the end of the night,” Ianto said.  “You have to admit something is off about this place, and not just the normal Supernatural.”

 

He looked towards Castiel as he said that, something telling him that the strong feelings of _wrongness_ pushing through him had something to do with whatever the Angels had done to him.  Castiel nodded, just a bit.  “There’s something off, I sensed it when we walked in.  It would be smart to have more than just our knowledge.  Especially if whatever this is has been haunting the ship for decades.”

 

Dean looked disappointed, but also like he wasn’t likely going to argue with Castiel (which only made Ianto smirk a little to himself.  How deep could one person fall before they realized they had fallen?  Sure, he wasn’t one to talk but at least he could use Lisa as an excuse for his blindness).

 

“We should get these monitors up and tracking.  If we split up we can cover the ship faster,” Ianto said.  “Dean and Castiel, Mickey and Jack, Charlie and me?”

 

Jack raised an eyebrow at Ianto, and Ianto gave him a look that hopefully said ‘trust me’ on it.  Jack nodded and moved before Dean could protest about wanting to be paired with Charlie. “Right, Mickey come on we’ll take the starboard and forward, Dean and Castiel you can take the port and aft, Ianto and Charlie cover the middle.”

 

“Woah, woah who put you in charge?” Dean snapped.

 

Jack spun, his coat flapping a little and Ianto trailed his movements carefully.  “Our monitors, I’m in charge,” Jack snapped. “If you bring things you want to set up, then you can be in charge.  Got it?  Or would you like me to hint to Miss Caroline Anderson that you might not actually be FBI?”

 

Dean huffed, puffing up his chest in pride, though he didn’t challenge Jack.  Instead he snatched the bag of monitors that Jack held out to him.

 

“Come on, Cass,” he muttered, guiding Castiel by the angel’s elbow.

 

“Just place them on a wall and hit the big middle button to activate them,” Jack said, smirking at their backs.  Ianto rolled his eyes at the antics, wondering if the two of them would ever stop fighting for top dog (though he highly doubted it).

* * *

 

“So you’re from a parallel world?” Ianto asked.

 

“You want to know just how much I know?” Charlie asked.  “It’s probably weird – or it should be.  That I know so much about you guys.  Feels like I’m violating something.”

 

“It’s just … you weren’t really surprised to not see Tosh or Owen, but you also weren’t surprised to see me either.”

 

“What do you mean by that?” Charlie asked, stopping to place one of the monitors and activate it. 

 

“What was the last thing you saw on the show?”

 

Charlie glanced up at Ianto, the cheerfulness that had filled her earlier fading away a little bit.  “Captain John Hart returned, with Gray.  Jack being trapped under Cardiff for two thousand years.  Owen and Tosh …”

 

“Dying,” Ianto said, his voice soft.  It should be easier for him.  They died in 2008, a decade ago now, but it was still fresh to him.  He’d been living the past nine years in his memories with them.  He shook that off and continued.  “And then?”

 

“The Apocalypse started early 2009,” Charlie said. “The power grid was the first thing to go out, probably overloaded by the Angels.  No more shows, not that we really had time to miss them.”

 

Ianto’s breath caught a little.   She didn’t know.  She probably just thought he somehow had survived working for Torchwood for the last nine years – which would be truly impressive.

 

“What are you guys even doing out in America?  I mean, aliens is kind of a UK thing isn’t it?”

 

“Cracks started appearing over America.  We needed to monitor it, so Jack started a Torchwood out here six months ago.  It was the first time he was back.”

 

“He was back?”

 

“On Earth.  I died.  September 2009.”  Ianto paused a little.  It was the first time he had said it.  He didn’t talk about it, not really.  He and Jack had talked a little bit about the time between then and now, but he never had to tell people he had died.  They either knew, or didn’t need to know.

 

“But how are you?”

 

“The Angels needed someone on the ground.  They want Michael locked away in Heaven so they can use his grace, energy, whatever.”

 

Charlie nodded slowly.  It was silent as they set up another monitor, one floor up from the last.   Once that was done, Charlie spoke again.  “I’m sorry you died.  I’m really glad I didn’t see that.  And I’m glad you’re back.   Jack needs you.”

 

Ianto smiled a little, not looking at Charlie.  Jack was fine on his own, he survived – as always – but there was something heavy (a good kind of heavy) at someone saying that they though Jack needed him.  Him, Ianto Jones.  The man who harassed his way into Torchwood Three, who wasn’t really a field agent but got promoted as such, who had to work twice as hard to even match the speed of Owen or Tosh or Jack. 

 

He was going to respond, but he didn’t get the chance because a sort of faint wheezing and groaning noise travelled down the hall.  Charlie and Ianto exchanged only the briefest look before they took off towards it.  Ianto knew that noise.  The last time he’d heard that noise, Jack was gone for three months.  He’d watched the CCTV footage too many times to count, that groaning wheezing noise there before a blue box appeared and Jack went running out to it, his strange science project hand in, well hand.   

 

They skidded around a corner to find Jack and Mickey already there, staring at where a large blue box had appeared – though it wasn’t quite there.  It was almost like a hologram, or a ghost of it. 

 

“Jack?” Ianto asked.

 

“Don’t know.”

 

The door opened, and the first person to step out was a woman.  She had a long coat on, braces and a t-shirt underneath, and she was looking back over her shoulder at whoever was going to be following her out.  

 

“Well it’s not impossible, is it Doc?” a voice came from the TARDIS.

 

“I mean, I’ve never met a ghost,” the woman said – the Doctor? Though the last time Ianto had seen the Doctor he was, well a he.  “Not a proper ghost that is.  Now come on, let’s go … Jack?”

 

She’d turned to face forward again, and now looked at them as though she were seeing a ghost. 

 

“Captain Jack Harkness!  And Ricky Mickey Smith!  Now this is strange.  You’re not here, not really,” she said excitedly, pulling out a small device and scanning Jack.

 

“Doctor you’re … you’ve changed again,” Jack said, an amused smirk on his lips.

 

“Yes.  Twice since we last met.  Or since I last met you. Got a bit older first, then this,” the Doctor said.  Then her eyes lit up. “Oh right!  I’m a woman now.  Still getting used to that.  How’d I look?”

 

“As dazzling as ever,” Jack said, and Ianto shifted a little bit.  If he moved a little closer to Jack, it was simply to get a better view of whatever was happening in front of there eyes, that was all – at least what he told himself.   He wasn’t jealous of the Doctor.  Jack had left to come back to him – them, Torchwood. 

 

The Doctor had been joined by three others who climbed out of the TARDIS – one girl and two men, one of which was older than the rest of them (or looked older than the rest of them.  Ianto knew that the Doctor rivaled Jack in age).

 

“Doctor, why’d you know the ghosts?” the girl asked.

 

“Not really ghosts.  I’d be surprised if Jack was a ghost.  I suspect you see us the same way, right Jack?”

 

“You’re coming through almost like a hologram, though not quite as grainy and more white than blue,” Ianto stepped in, finally getting the Doctor to look at him and not her two former sort-of companions.  She considered him for a moment before her eyes lit up.

 

“Ianto Jones! Torchwood, right?  You were there when Earth got pulled across the Universe,” she said.  “Right, that’s what we’re getting here too.  Very ghost like, but not.  Anyway, team.  This is Captain Jack Harkness.  Travelled with me way back.  And that’s Mickey Smith, and Ianto Jones and … I don’t know you.”

 

“Charlie Bradbury,” Charlie said – well more squeaked.  She stared at the Doctor and the TARDIS in awe, perhaps more awe than when she recognized Torchwood. 

 

“She’s from a parallel world where we’re all a TV show,” Jack said, and though he was trying to joke Ianto could feel the weight in his words.  The Doctor froze a little, her eyes fading to somewhere distant, though Ianto suspected he knew where.    Jack stepped forward a little. “Doctor?”

 

“Right, we’ve got bigger issues at hand.  Torchwood, meet my team – fam? Squad?  Haven’t decided yet.  Yaz, Ryan, and Graham.   Graham, meet Torchwood.”

 

“When are you Doctor?” Mickey asked.

 

“December 13, 1978.”

 

“Oh that makes sense,” Ianto said.  “The Cracks – the ones we’ve seen seem to only be connecting through place, but not time.  This crack connects -”

 

“Time not place,” he and Jack finished together.  Jack turned to the Doctor, explaining. “We’re at December 13, 2018.  We’ve been detecting these cracks all over America, though not quite like the one in Cardiff.  These ones don’t span through time.  They pop up and exist only from that moment on, not reaching backwards and forwards.  But this one…”

 

“Exists to connect two times.  That’s brilliant!  Right, so there’s some kind of crack.  Look, Jack, just stay there.  We’ll hop back in the TARDIS and jump forward forty years.”

 

“If you can land her correctly.”

 

“Oi! Sometimes she doesn’t listen but she always gets me where I _need_ to go.”

 

“Dean’s not gonna like it,” Charlie said. 

 

“Well he’s just going to have to deal with it, isn’t he?” Jack said, a little snip-ish. 

 

Ianto didn’t like it, but part of him agreed with what Dean would say.  Couldn’t the Doctor stay in her own time?  They could solve this working from two different times, couldn’t they?  Ianto shoved that down.  He knew he was being illogical about it all. 

 

“Meet us in the lobby, Doctor.  Mickey’s got to start analyzing the readings from this area.”

 

The Doctor started to flicker out again, but she managed to give them a confirmation before she was gone completely. 

 

The walk back to the lobby, Ianto knew he was tense.  He knew, and he knew Jack could sense it as well because he gently grabbed Ianto’s arm and slowed the two of them down while Mickey and Charlie continued on, talking about the readings and the best way to figure out what they were saying.  Ianto had decided that he wanted Charlie, especially seeing how Mickey didn’t seem to feel imposed upon as she offered ideas and help.

 

“Ianto, you okay?” Jack asked, his voice soft and his hands softer as they pressed into the small of Ianto’s back.

 

“I’m fine.” It was easy to say, easy to pretend, when he wasn’t allowing himself to think anything else.

 

“I’m not leaving.  Even if she asked me to, I’m not leaving.  I just got you back and this – this is good.”

 

Ianto shifted a little, glancing at the other two who were walking farther away. “I can’t promise to play nice,” he finally said.  Jack just looked confused, and Ianto couldn’t help but laugh about it.  “She – he – you told me what the Doctor said about you, about how they’ve treated you.  I know they care, they really care about everyone, but it just feels like you’re always used, Jack.  They drop you off, tell you that you’re _wrong_ – which is complete bullshit – and then they come back when they need you to do something for them, or to die because you won’t stay dead.  I don’t like it Jack, and I won’t ever …”

 

Ianto was cut off by Jack’s lips against his own.  He melted against Jack, as he always did.  It wasn’t a long kiss, but there was so much feeling behind it that it left Ianto panting just a little.

 

“I love you, Ianto Jones,” Jack said.  “My Ianto Jones.”

 

Ianto could feel his cheeks heat, just a bit.  Sure, he had always known that he and Jack were more, but ever since he’d come back Jack was being careful to say it more often, and it still tripped Ianto up to hear it.

 

“We should get back to the others.  It’d probably be better if you told Dean what was coming – before the Doctor comes in and starts bossing people around.”

 

Jack chuckle a little and nodded, tugging Ianto towards the lobby to join up with the rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay classes are starting up again for me so updates will be slower BUT I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU HANGING. 100% this piece will be finished, hopefully in a week. ANd one of my best friends will probably kill me if I don't continue this series because I promised her something in the future of it
> 
> Yes, I know Yaz, Ryan, and Graham probably wouldn't leave the Doctor but THERE'S TOO MANY CHARACTERS OKAY. I can barely keep track of them all as it is, and I can guarantee Martha and Mickey are getting forgotten the most.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay new chapter!! I got it up. It's a little rough, but I never claimed for any of these to be perfect. I'd also like to point out now that I never have a beta reader so any issues are because I don't have that.

“So you’re telling me that you’re friends with a Time Travelling Alien who’s coming here because she’s interested int what’s going on?” Dean asked, clearly angry.  It was Charlie who stepped in, looking up from the Torchwood laptop she was working on with Mickey.

 

“Dean, you can’t stop the Doctor from coming, it just doesn’t work that way.  Look, she’s going to come and we’re all going to figure this out, together,” Charlie snapped.  “And don’t argue with me.  Remember, I’m the one who knows who everyone is.”

 

“Dean, if this Doctor poses any threat, I’m sure we can handle it,” Castiel said.  Jack snorted and Ianto elbowed him.  They were trying to get this to work, not to explode more. 

 

There was the wheezing sound again, this time louder.  Jack jumped up from where he and Ianto had been sitting, going over the police files.   As soon as the TARDIS landed, Jack was just outside of it, the Doctor nearly running into him when she bounded out.

 

“Jack!”

 

“Doctor!”

 

The Doctor reached out and hugged Jack, which Ianto could even see Jack was a little confused about.

 

“Long time,” the Doctor said. “How are you?”

 

“It’s only been six months for me,” Jack said. “You dropped me off, told me to restart Torchwood.”

 

“I nearly forgot about that!  It’s been years for me – at least a hundred.  How is it?  I see you recruited good ole Mickey Smith.”

 

“And Martha Jones.  Got her out of UNIT’s greedy fingers,” Jack said.

 

“Martha!  Is she here?”

 

“She’ll be back shortly, I’m sure,” Ianto said, not looking up from the files he was still looking through.  “She went to look at the body with Sam.”

 

“Sam?  More Torchwood?”

 

Dean snorted from where he stood, watching as the Doctor walked out of the TARDIS, this time alone.  At Jack’s raised eyebrow she said, “I convinced them that this was something I wanted to do on my own, and that I was in perfectly safe hands with you.  They weren’t happy, but I promised them I’d be back.”

 

“And you will be back, won’t you?” Jack said.

 

The Doctor slowed a little, looking at Jack.  “Yes, I will.  They’re my friends.”

 

Ianto snorted, but the Doctor’s attention was on the two men she hadn’t met yet.  She bounded over to them and Ianto couldn’t help but smirk at how Dean flinched backwards a little. 

 

“I’m the Doctor, nice to meet you.  Not Torchwood?  And you – you are something different entirely!” The Doctor walked around Castiel, scanning him with her Sonic Screwdriver. 

 

“I’m Castiel, Angel of the Lord.   And this is Dean Winchester.  We’re Hunters.”

 

The Doctor grimaced a little.  “Should have guessed, what with all the haunted rumors.  You’re working with Hunters now, Jack?”

 

“We stumbled upon it.  Had some mutual goals.”  Ianto watched Jack carefully, glad that Jack was letting Ianto keep the choice of going into the whole Prince of Heaven ordeal or not.  He suspected the Doctor would piece it together.  She was a genius, and no matter what grudge Ianto held against the Timelord, he respected them deeply. 

 

The Doctor turned quickly, spotting Ianto and bounding over. “Those the files?” She started to reach for them (without asking, mind you) when she stopped and froze.  She looked at Ianto, then at Jack, then back at Ianto.  She turned quickly, but this time it was different.  Her entire demeanor had changed.

 

“What did you do Jack?” she hissed, stalking towards him, and Ianto had to give him credit for not flinching back.

 

“I didn’t do anything.  You know I wouldn’t fuck with time, not like that.  I couldn’t, even if I wanted to.  _You_ locked that time down, if I remember correctly,” Jack said, and there was a growl in his voice.  Ianto was shocked.  Jack had never been anything but in awe of the Doctor, in love with them (though it was a hero, idol sort of love). 

 

“I did because I know you Jack, and messing with that time could have been disastrous.”

 

“He didn’t do it,” Ianto said calmly.  He sighed and stood up, adjusting his suit before handing the files over to the Doctor.  She was going to take them anyway.  “I died.  I went to Heaven.  The Angels decided they needed me for a mission so they sent me back.”

 

The Doctor turned, and Ianto forced himself to stay still under her harsh gaze.  “They didn’t just send you back.  You’re different.  They changed you.”

 

“Maybe physically, but I’m still Ianto Jones,” he snapped.  “Now are you going to help us figure out what has killed three girls in the last six weeks or are you going to continue to stand around judging all of us.”

 

The Doctor looked shocked.  She probably wasn’t used to people talking to her this way, not when they knew who she was.  Because everyone _loved_ the Doctor, and the Doctor was _always_ right.  Ianto wasn’t backing down though.  She jumped to conclusions and always assumed the worst out of Jack, despite having travelled with him – when she should have seen the good in him.  Instead she saw him making the mistakes she thought she was too smart to make.

 

“Have I done something wrong?” the Doctor asked, watching Ianto closely.

 

“Ianto,” Jack said, his voice unreadable.

 

“Look, Doctor, thank you for saving the world a fair few times.  It’s really great.  But maybe don’t go around telling people they’re _wrong_ for something they couldn’t control or stop.  I don’t care if he’s not supposed to exist the way he is.  He does, and the universe should be grateful for that because I really don’t think it would be standing without Jack Harkness.”

 

The Doctor’s eyes went wide, then she smiled.  She stepped back from Ianto, clapped Jack on the back, and started flipping through the files he’d given her.

 

“Keep that one, Jack.  He’s good for you,” she said.

 

“I know he is.”

 

Jack smiled at him, just a bit, and Ianto was able to let out a breath he’d been holding.  Going toe to toe with Jack’s idol wasn’t the smartest move, but it seemed to work out in his favor this time.  Luckily, the attention of the room was taken from him when Martha and Sam returned.  The Doctor immediately lit up, dropping her files and running towards Martha.  Martha tensed as the woman (who she didn’t know she knew) hugged her.

 

“Martha Jones!  Look at you.  Working for Torchwood now?  I guess under Jack it’s better than working under UNIT.  Though still too many guns for my liking.”

 

“Doctor?”

 

“Yup, that’s me.  Like my face?  It’s still really knew.  Still figuring stuff out.”

 

Martha laughed and hugged the woman again, this time knowing who it was.  “What the hell are you doing here?”

 

“Crack in time,” Jack said.  “The Doctor happened to land here on December 13, 1978 and we were able to reach her through the crack.  Speaking of – Mickey, Charlie, what have we got on the monitors?”

 

“Well we hadn’t set up the monitor in that hallway until after the Doctor left, so it’s not the best reading,” Mickey said.

 

“There definitely was something coming up on nearby monitors, but nothing we can trace yet,” Charlie said. “But, one of the girls in the file didn’t die right away.  She managed to speak to the police briefly before she passed away in the hospital an hour later.  She kept going on about a man, a man in a Captain’s uniform.  So, I’m compiling a list of all the Captains the Queen Mary has seen.  If we see any of them, they could be the one responsible.”

 

“Martha, what’d you find?”

 

“They all had signs of a fight,” Martha said.  “Broken nails, bruises, things like that, but no DNA left on them.  When you scratch at someone, there’s always a trace of DNA, even if you can’t match it.  They all were stabbed then strangulated.   The third girl was saved before she was strangled, but bled out in the hospital.”

 

“Nurse that was helping her said she kept going on about this man – a man who wasn’t really there, but attacked her,” Sam said. 

 

“Someone through the Crack,” Ianto said. 

 

“We’ve got two spikes,” Mickey said.  “Floor four, forward aft looks similar to the one we had with the Doctor.  floor seven, forward starboard, but that one’s different.  Not a crack spike but something’s still there.”

 

They split off – Sam, Martha, Mickey, and Charlie running off for the fourth floor while Dean, Castiel, Jack, Ianto, and the Doctor heading for the seventh floor.  Ianto held onto the small navigation system, directing them, though the Doctor was also trying to do that with her Sonic (which was completely unnecessary – they had monitors for a reason!)

 

They stumbled to a stop when they came face to face with a man prowling the hall, peaking into rooms without ever opening the doors.  He looked different than the Doctor had when she game through.

 

“I don’t know anything about your fucking cracks, but that is a ghost,” Dean hissed, which unfortunately got the ghosts attention. 

 

Ianto cursed to himself.  They had iron baseball bats they’d picked up, but they were in the lobby with the rest of their equipment.  The Doctor darted forward, Sonic held out to scan the ghosts, and Ianto immediately recognized the mistake.  The ghost had been targeting females, and while three wasn’t a large sampling pool it didn’t bode well, and if he’d picked up correctly, she often kept forgetting that being a female in appearance now meant something to most planets and species. 

 

He and Jack moved at the same time, realizing what was happening as the ghost reached out to her.  Ianto got their first, pushing the Doctor back.  The ghost grabbed him instead, by the throat. 

 

“Ianto!”

 

He could see the anger in the ghost’s eyes.  He wasn’t what it wanted.  He was thrown, like a ragdoll, until he collided with a wall and dropped to the ground.  Everything hurt, and he couldn’t stop the groan that escaped his lips.

 

“A gun’s not going to do anything to a ghost!” he heard the Doctor yell, but there was still a gun shot.

 

“Salt rounds,” Dean barked. “This is my job, remember Doc?”

 

“Ianto?”

 

Jack was beside him and Ianto forced himself to lift his head, to let Jack know he was okay.  He couldn’t bare the sound of Jack’s voice cracking.

 

“I’m alright,” he said, trying to push himself up and only succeeding because Jack was helping him.  “Everything hurts, but I’m alright.”

 

“Don’t do that,” Jack said. “We don’t know what you can survive.  I can survive anything.”

 

Ianto looked away from Jack only when Castiel got close to them.  He knelt down beside Jack and held out two fingers, pressing them to Ianto’s forehead.  The pain left his body in a rush and he felt himself relaxing into Jack’s arms.

 

“You should be fine now,” Castiel said, standing and turning back to Dean.  “So we have a ghost and a crack in time.”

 

“What if the ghost is using the crack?” Ianto asked.  He sat up, a little too quickly.  “We need to get back to the lobby.  See if there were any other strings of murders over the years.”

 

“A ghost using a rip in time.  Great.  Which means that whatever is tying it here could be here or in the past or in the future,” Dean groaned.

 

Jack helped Ianto stand, even though he was already feeling better from whatever Castiel had done. 

 

“We should find the others, figure out who that was, and start tacking down who that guy is and where we can find his bones, or whatever is tying him to this place,” Dean said.  After a beat he looked over at Jack and asked, “What?  No complaints, no challenging?”

 

“Ghosts are your expertise,” Jack said with a shrug.  “You know what to do the best.”

 

And so they found themselves back in the lobby, going through files and records Manager Caroline Anderson dug up to try to figure out who the Captain was.  It was getting late in the night when the Doctor stumbled out of her TARDIS, where she had been doing her own research.  “Found him!”

 

She ducked back into her TARDIS, beckoning for them to follow.  Jack and Martha moved first, on instinct going towards the TARDIS.  With a quick glance at each other, Mickey and Ianto followed next.

 

“What – there’s no way in hell we’re going to all fit in there,” Dean snapped.

 

“Come on, Dean.  Trust us,” Charlie said, following after them as well.

 

Ianto had never seen the interior of the TARDIS, not properly.  He’d gotten glimpses of it when the Earth was stolen, and he heard stories about Jack – who could be very descriptive if he wanted to be.  This was not what he was expecting.  They came into a large, circular room with metal light up hexagons along the wall.  There were a couple door ways leading off of the main room, but the focus of the room was a circular platform where crystal arms wrapped around and the console sat in the center.

 

“You redecorated,” Jack said.

 

“Yeah! You like it?”

 

“It’s – different,” Jack said.  He and Martha shared a look, something passing between them before Jack moved towards the Doctor and her monitor.

 

“Holy – it’s …” Dean started as he walked in.

 

“A pocket dimension wrapped inside of a small space,” Castiel finished.

 

The Doctor froze and looked over at the three Hunters, a slight frown on her face. “You’re supposed to say ‘it’s bigger on the inside’,” she huffed.

 

“What did you find, Doctor?” Martha asked.

 

“Captain Charles M. Williams,” the Doctor said.  “He was in command of the ship from 1957 to 1958 and while he was Captain three girls wound up dead in the span of three months.”

 

“That matches what I found,” Charlie said.  “I got into the Long Beach Police database.  Every decade since 1958 three girls either go missing or end up dead between the span of the last two months of the year.”

 

“He left his position shortly after the three girls went missing,” Martha said.  “You think someone found out?”

 

“He was killed,” the Doctor said.  “January of 1959 he was shot in his own quarters.”

 

“Charlie pull up what happened to his body,” Sam said and Charlie confirmed that she was on it.

 

“You think someone on the crew found out what he’d done and killed him?” Mickey asked, repeating Martha’s question.

 

“No one ever found out who’d killed him,” the Doctor said.

 

“I mean, if you found out your Captain had killed three girls what would you do?” Sam asked.

 

“Wait – but I don’t understand,” Ianto said.  “There’s a pattern.  Three girls killed then, and then every ten years three more girls are killed or go missing.  Why did he go after the Doctor then?”

 

“Maybe he could tell we were looking for something?” Jack said.

 

It didn’t feel right to Ianto.  Something was off.  He huffed and started pacing, trying to piece it together.  The Queen Mary just didn’t feel right.  Maybe it was because of the rift in time, but it didn’t just feel like a crack.  They’d been seeing those all over America and they never felt as off as this one did.  It felt – as though time were wrong.   As they had walked around the ship, it felt like they were out of time, that everything was out of time. 

 

“Doctor, can you run scans on the crack over the ship?” Ianto asked, moving over towards her.

 

“What for?”

 

“It – feels wrong out there.  Like something’s wrong with the crack.  I’ve seen cracks before, seen Rifts before.  This is – different.”

 

“And it’s the first temporal crack we’ve seen pop up,” Jack said, moving behind Ianto to watch as the Doctor pulled levers and pressed buttons before huffing to herself.

 

“Of course!  Why didn’t I notice it before,” she muttered. “The crack, it’s unstable.  Time is literally collapsing in on itself.”

 

“Which would explain why the Captain is still looking for victims!  He can’t tell what time it is, if it’s time to kill again or not,” Jack said.  “Brilliant Ianto!”

 

“Time collapsing in on itself doesn’t sound good,” Dean said.

 

“It’s not, but I can fix it.  I just need to make a – a thing.  I need a thing,” the Doctor said.

 

“We’ve got our equipment out in the lobby,” Mickey said.  “Let’s see if we can’t make your thing.”  With that the Doctor and Mickey rushed out, heading to start building a ‘thing’ to stop time from collapsing.

 

“Charlie, anything?” Sam asked.

 

“He was cremated so I’ve been going through anything I can find to see if I can find something of importance, something he might have tied himself too.”

 

“What about the knife?” Martha asked.  “He always stabbed his victims then strangled them.  Why stab them?  Strangulation works just fine.”

 

Charlie started typing on her computer, lip drawn between her teeth as she concentrated. “Got it!  Records from 1956.  A Charles M. Williams purchased a very old Roman Gladius for four hundred and twenty-five dollars, which is about four thousand today.”

 

“So where is it?” Dean asked.

 

“The Captain’s quarters,” Jack said.  “Mickey and I saw it when we were placing our monitors around the forward of the ship.  Big long Roman sword hanging in the Captain’s Quarters, which they use for tours now.”

 

“Great, lets go then.  Get the sword, salt and burn it,” Dean said.

 

“Dean it’s going to take a lot of heat to burn a sword,” Sam said.

 

“The Doctor’s got to have something in here,” Martha said.  “You guys get the sword, I’ll start looking for a room here that might have something we can use.”

 

“I’ll stay here and look with you,” Castiel said. “Two eyes are better than one.”

 

“I’m going to see if Mickey and the Doctor could use some technical help with the _thing_ they’re making,” Charlie said.  “The faster we get that done, the better.”

 

With that, Ianto, Jack, Dean, and Sam took off towards the forward of the ship.  Jack led the way, the others trailing just behind him.  They slowed as they reached the Captain’s quarters.  Sam and Dean had their guns with salt rounds raised, Jack and Ianto both held iron bats they’d grabbed from their stuff before heading forward.

 

Jack was the one to move forward for the sword.  He used his bat to break the glass that encased it, but as he did so Captain Williams appeared.  He lunged for Jack, but Sam let off a salt round before he could reach.  Jack grabbed the sword and they took off again. Sam and Dean lagged just behind, ensuring to keep the ghost from catching up.  Captain Williams appeared before them one time, but Ianto easily slashed him away with his bat.

 

The four of them made it back to the TARDIS, calling for the three who were working on the thing to follow them.  They made it into the TARDIS as Captain Williams appeared a foot away.  He tried to move forward, but couldn’t.

 

“Shields,” the Doctor said.  “Where’s Martha and the angel?”

 

“Looking for a place to burn this in,” Jack said, raising the sword.

 

“Oh I know!  Down that hall, second door on your left then third on your right,” the Doctor said and Jack took off.

 

“What about Cass – and Martha?” Dean asked. “They could be anywhere in this thing!”

 

“They’ll be fine.  The TARDIS kind of  - rearranges herself to make sure people don’t get too lost.  Unless she’s under attack, then it becomes a labyrinth.  But she’s not under attack so …”

 

As the Doctor spoke, Castiel walked back into the room, looking confused.  “I should not be back here.  Your ship keeps moving.”

 

“She does that.  Jack’s on his way to the core already.  She wouldn’t have let you in there.  Only will let Jack down there because she knows he won’t die,” the Doctor said.

 

“You mean he’s going to die down there?” Ianto snapped.

 

The Doctor looked up from the contraption she was working on, her gazing piercing through Ianto like she could read right through him.  He forced himself not to flinch away from that gaze.

 

“He’ll be alright,” she said.

 

“No one should die alone.  Even if everyone knows they won’t stay dead.”

 

“He won’t die down there.  There’s a small chance from prolonged exposure, but he shouldn’t be in there long enough.”

 

Ianto nodded, but only because he doubted the TARDIS would let him reach Jack in time either way.  A moment later Martha came running back in, panting a little.

 

“I need the blue wire,” the Doctor said. “And Martha don’t both going back in.  Jack’s already…”

 

There was a scream outside.  Ianto froze, remembering there was still one person out there – Caroline Anderson.  He rushed to the door, some of the others trailing behind him, only in time to see Captain William’s ghost going up in flames.   A moment later Jack walked back into the main room, and in that moment Ianto didn’t really care if there were other people around.  He stormed towards Jack, who tensed a little knowing better than to get on Ianto’s bad side, but Ianto just grabbed Jack and pulled him into a hug.  He didn’t need to say anything for Jack to understand.  Jack just pulled Ianto against him and chuckled a little.

 

“I’m fine.  I’m always fine,” Jack said.

 

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

 

“Right so I think we’ve got it,” the Doctor said. 

 

“What is it?” Jack asked, stepping away from Ianto to look at the device the Doctor had created.

 

“It’s a stabilizer.  Well, it’s more complicated than that, but it’s a stabilizer.  Just have to throw it into the crack and the crack should close before time collapses.”

 

That was the easy part, throwing the stabilizer in.  The Doctor led the way with her Sonic, and Mickey was the one who got to lob the device into the crack (having helped create it).  The horizontal sliver of blue light slowly decreased once the stabilizer had been thrown in until it was completely gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I originally thought this would be 2 chapters, but I decided I wanted another chapter to kind of wrap everything up before moving onto the short one-shot that will be Mission 2.5 (notice a pattern here? A longer piece that's a mission, and then a short piece of crack to fit between the two missions)  
> ALSO please don't be going down in the comments and saying "that was easy for them to solve" and complaining about that. These pieces I'm writing are meant to be short, easy. They're for me to explore these characters interacting more than to create this complex storyline. Problems are going to be solved easily, because I'm writing this more for the characters than for a complicated plot.


	3. Chapter 3

It was decided that they should find a bar again, and Ianto wondered if this was becoming a sort of tradition – finish a case with the Winchesters and find a bar to celebrate at. They invited the Doctor, but she begged off saying that she needed to pick up her team. Ianto was glad that she was keeping her promise to them of going back, but then again he’d always suspected that the Doctor was just a lonely soul who couldn’t be alone with themselves for too long. Jack and Martha both tried hard to get her to come, to catch up. She promised that she’d come around some other time for drinks, for tea, she had emphasized and Ianto wondered if this regeneration wasn’t huge on drinking.

It was still a large group of them finding the nearest bar to have drinks at. Jack tried (admirably) to drag them to a gay bar they spotted, which was very quickly turned down by Dean (who Ianto was sure had been blushing just a bit) and seconded by Mickey. So instead they found a bit of a dive bar not too far from the Queen Mary. It wasn’t overly crowded, despite being a Thursday night, and the bar tender was nice enough (Jack’s flirting always helped). 

Dean was the first telling stories this time, graphically describing to them about how he killed Hitler. Both Sam and Castiel were rolling their eyes at him, and Ianto wondered how many times they had heard Dean tell this story. Though he couldn’t help but notice there was a fondness to Castiel’s eyeroll, not too dissimilar to his own look he gave Jack whenever Jack launched into one of his tails that ended often in sex. 

They were an hour into the night and Jack and Castiel were discussing the 1800s with a rapt audience of Dean, Charlie, Martha, and Mickey, when Ianto leaned towards Sam a little. “The Crack in North Cove. There’s more to it, isn’t there? I doubt one jump to a parallel dimension would set off a chain of Cracks across America.”

Sam sighed, looking down into his drink. “It’s complicated.”

“It could get worse.”

Sam sighed again, downing the rest of his beer and motioning for another one. “Lucifer, you know – the Lucifer had a son. Jack. He’s amazing, nothing like his father and he’s with us so, we’re trying. When he was born, he opened the Crack into another universe, one where Dean and I were never born and never stopped the Apocalypse. We tried to trap Lucifer in that universe, since he always screwed things up here. Our mom got caught on the other side with him.”

“You couldn’t leave her there,” Ianto said, his voice soft.

“We managed to reopen it for a bit, but only Jack got through and he got stuck on the other side. We managed to open it again, this time for a little bit longer and back down in our base in Lebanon. That’s how Michael got through to this side. Our universe’s Michael – he’s powerless and insane trapped in a cage in Hell. Which I suspect is why Heaven hasn’t gone to retrieve him. He’s too drained anyway.”

Ianto nodded. “Watch where you opened the Crack in your base. It might start fluctuating, dropping things or creatures out into your home,” he said.

“And I assume you want us to call you if it does?”

“I’m sure you can handle whatever it throws at you, but Torchwood needs to monitor it,” Ianto said. Sam nodded, and the two of them turned their attention back to the conversation.

The night continued on, the air between the group light and happy. For now, they didn’t need to worry. Ianto snorted his drink back into its cup when a new bartender came up and started flirting with Castiel, causing Dean to butt in and angrily order another beer. It was nearing one in the morning when the Winchesters paid their tab, Dean having sobered up enough to drive them to a nearby motel. Charlie stood as well, catching a ride with the brothers until she could go back to her car in the morning. Jack stood, reaching out and stopping Charlie.

He held out a card to her, and Ianto knew what it was. It was simple – the Torchwood logo on the front and their new address on the back. “We need a computer genius,” Jack said, “but we want you. Think about it?”

Charlie stared at the card, and Ianto could see a war going on in her mind. “I said I was done hunting, done with this life. That I was going to find a cabin somewhere and just disappear.”

Ianto recognized the pain in her eyes. It was a stab in the heart because he knew that pain. It was the same pain he’d felt in the months between Torchwood One and Torchwood Three. He’d tried to tell himself he was only going back for Lisa, but he knew – you couldn’t just walk away from Torchwood. Even after you lost someone, lost everyone.

“You lost someone,” Ianto said, causing Charlie to jolt. “It’s okay. We all have. And if you think going away is going to help, then you should. Find a cabin, set up some games and Netflix, live for the rest of your life. But, if that’s not what you need. If what you need is a reason to keep going, one that isn’t just hunting. Is an actual job, no offense to Hunters, you can come to us.”

Charlie took the card, though she still looked at it like it would bite her. “I’ll think about it.”

“That’s all we ask,” Martha said. 

“It’d be nice to have someone do the computer stuff. I’m a hands on kind of guy – not typing or hacking,” Mickey added. 

The Winchesters and team left, waving Torchwood farewell and Dean telling them not to take their cases again (though it was light and playful). 

“Do you think she’ll take it?” Martha asked.

Ianto watched the four others climb into the Impala and pull out of the parking lot. “I think she should take it. I don’t know if she will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I actually got the rest of this out pretty quickly! It hasn't been my favorite thing to write and I might revisit it at some point and edit it more, but for now it's here and I don't hate it. I'm thinking of making Mission 2.5 a Christmas one shot??


End file.
